The evening will be hosted by Josh Clark and Chuck Bryant of popular podcast Stuff You Should Know and will feature special appearances by Eugene Mirman and John Hodgman and musical performances by Lucy Wainwright Roche, The Henry Clay People, and local Austin favorites Crooks. And of course, a super-exclusive sneak preview of Josh and Chuck’s new TV pilot Stuff You Should Know, produced by School of Humans and airing on Science Channel later this spring.

As if THAT wasn’t enough reason to come, there will be a free drink ticket to the first 100 guests. And Fado is an easy walk from the Austin Convention Center.

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Check out the video below, and Ben’s latest album, ‘Inclusions,’ which launched today and is awesome.

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No one can deny that too many instances of product placement are obtrusive, blatant, and insulting to our intelligence. We, as the audience, find ourselves thinking, ‘Really??? They think we’re not going to notice that?’ Take the over-the-top series of Days of Our Lives product placements that hit the Web last fall.

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Painful, yes. But I’m guessing Chex Mix got a lot more eyeballs than they paid for when that clip went viral.

Still, obnoxious and interruptive ads are not the way of the future. While these clips were somewhat entertaining when they popped up on your news feed, imagine if all television shows had their characters reaching for (and unashamedly selling) their favorite picnic snack?

And yet advertisers are left with fewer and fewer options these days, thanks to new technology and the widespread implementation of the DVR. The empowered audience that we’ve become is determined and willing to avoid ads at all costs. So what choice do advertisers and writers have? Because in the end, in order for us to get the chance to enjoy the content we consume, someone needs to pay for it.

The latest effort in highlighting the absurdity and reality of the product placement world is the documentary, The Greatest Movie Ever Sold. Filmmaker Morgan Spurlock, of Super Size Me fame, sets out to, in his own words, “…make a film about product placement, marketing and advertising where the entire film is funded by product placement, marketing and advertisement.” In fact, he even sold the title of the film, whose formal name is actually POM Wonderful Presents: The Greatest Movie Ever Sold. Check out the recently released trailer below.

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But luckily for audiences and writers everywhere, there is an alternative to this type of crass and intruding product placement that Days of Our Lives brazenly uses and Spurlock satirizes. The key is to make it so flawlessly integral to the story, that its presence is not questioned. And while this approach is obviously not as easy as grabbing the nearest box of Cheerios to shove in your actor’s hands, the results are paramount to any other option. Audiences are satisfied with the fact that they aren’t being rudely interrupted with commercials or obtuse product integration, content creators are happy that they can continue to make awesome work, and advertisers are thrilled that their brand is being featured at the center of the story. As technology continues to progress, making brands part of the story, and not part of any viral mocking campaign, is crucial. Hey, no one felt offended when Cast Away pushed the Wilson-volleyball-turned-companion in our faces, did they? He was simply another character in the story.

That all changed when Tim Berners-Lee created the world wide web protocol. Now besides physical reality, at any given moment, consumers can access multiple layers of digital reality that include geographically relevant information, games, gifting, narratives and who-knows-what-else moving forward.

What that means is that a lot of one-way monologue media — television, radio and print included — are being asked to think about behaving in a two-way, oftentimes unscripted dialogue with a person on multiple formats. It’s a blended reality world.

What this transmedia now means for content creators and those that underwrite it are:

1. It’s here to stay. People media platform-shift and expect content to follow and react/behave appropriately

2. Platforms matter. Certain platforms have more validity for certain demographics than others

3. Stories must travel. Storytelling should be designed to live on all formats from its original conceit – not as an afterthought

So now what? The value of traditional advertising model is less reliable in a diffused, fragmented media landscape that is more about participation than interruption. No less than Forrester suggests that building more direct relationships with content allows brands to become part of the value chain – and to become more involved in a participatory dialogue with a community around that content. Brands still need to reach audiences, and entertainment is still the best way to provide value for their attention.

While traditional TV and music sponsorship helps a brand’s positioning, it is still a one-way model that may not take into consideration new time-shifting behaviors. Partnerships that go beyond inventory and product placement can reach audiences that other media can’t (social media for example). And then there’s ownership. Dare we dream that a brand can bring back serious theater and performance. Given the right metrics and targeting, the web might the right place to see “August: Osage County” if you can’t get to Broadway.

In fact, my dad, who is totally useless when it comes to technology (“oh yes, the mouse, I can see it move on the screen!”) was so blown away by the experience that he’s convinced it’s black magic — in fact, so much so he’s refusing to use the ‘damn tinternet’ ever again.

So, well done, boys at Google Chrome and of course, Arcade Fire. It’s really an amazing example of the magic that happens when you take a killer entertainment property and partner with an awesome brand.